Summer Metro Round 3 – Convicts(Red) vs Blue Team  

Sunday June 21, 10.00am

Bendwood Park

Game 3 of the summer Metro season saw an earlier Saturday morning start to avoid conflict with Father’s Day.  Having wrapped up the series in Game 2, Matty L’s Red Convicts came into Game 3 light on for numbers and short on size.  Swingman Mueller joined the Convicts for the day and Josh D also convinced Kylie’s cousin Michael to have a run for the Red team. 

Rick’s Blues started the game strongly, with Tommy D a pivotal point up forward and Fielder repelling attacks from half back, spreading the play through Trigger, Blake and CDG who were providing great run through the middle.  Both teams traded goals early in the quarter.  After Blake’s opening goal Coach Dan moved himself onto the ball, which saw the Convicts get their running game going through the middle and some clever vision by Nick P found Perham for a long running goal.  From the center bounce however the Blues CDG cleverly roved Dan’s tap and bounced his way through the middle for a great solo goal.  A strong contested mark by Robbie in the pocket led to a goal for Mueller, but this sparked the Blues into action. Trigger kicked a long running goal, Tom D found his range, and Rick and Blake also kicked truly as the Blues side flexed its muscle.  Another long running goal to Perham kept the Convicts in the contest as the Blues went into the break leading 6.3 to 3.1.

The 2^nd quarter saw the Convicts go a man down, with ring-in Michael succumbing to a combination of heat and Friday night margaritas.  The game itself became scrappy, with both sides standing strong in defense but turning the ball over going into attack.  The running power of the Blues midfield remained on show, and if not for some errant goal kicking the Blues could have put the game beyond reach.  As it was, the only goal came late in the quarter from Dan kicking over the top to Mueller who ambled in to an open goal.  At half-time, it was still the Blues holding the advantage 6.5 to 4.2.

Due to the heat, Coach Dan and Umpire Nate decided that the 3^rd quarter would be the last.  Unfortunately the would-be writer of the match report went to get more water, and returned just as the game finished.  Rick’s better half Carolina however provided wonderful assistance in keeping track of the scores in what turned out to be a return to open play, and reliably recorded 5 'good ones' and 2 'little ones' for the Blues compared to 3 'good ones' and 2 'little ones' for the Convicts.  A bit of investigation revealed that Blake kicked 3 goals for the term as Trigger and Art also kicked majors for the Blues, while goals for the Convicts came from Nick P, Dan and Mueller again as the Blues ran out deserved 27-point winners 11.7 to 7.4.

Final Score:

Blues: 11.7 (73) defeated Red Convicts:  7.4 (46)

Goals:

Blues: Blake 5, Trigger 2, Tom D, Rick, CDG, Art

Convicts: Mueller 3, Perham 2, Nick P, Dan

Best:

Blues: Blake, Tom, CDG, Trigger

Convicts: Perham, Damo, Mueller, Robbie

~Written by Scotty (The FineMaster)

Summer Metro Round 2 – Convicts(Red) vs Blue Team  

Sunday June 14, 5:30pm

Cullen Park

Round 2 of the June metro series saw the two teams travel west to Cullen Park. With all the lush, green soccer pitches already taken up by the future stars of the Houston Dynamo, the Lonestars established a playing field on one of the drier parks to the south east of the venue. It was a hot, humid and blustery day. This was certainly going to challenge everyone’s fitness levels as well as some of the guys’ stomachs, who from all reports consumed a fairly solid BBQ lunch.

After a physical contest in Round 1 that saw the Reds power through to claim the win, it was payback time and a chance for the Blues to square the series ledger. With a number of Blues unavailable, including number 1 draft pick Tom Donnelly, run machine CDG, tough men Art and Max as well as the smooth skills of Earl and Chissy, it was certainly going to be a challenge. It didn’t get any easier after Trigger decided that the ground wasn’t quite up to the standards of Subiaco Oval and wasn’t keen to risk the ankle (Keep an eye out for his pending review of Cullen Park on Yelp). For those following the game in Australia or Las Vegas, the smart money was to back the favourite (favorite) and bet on the Reds to close out the series.   

The teams started with nine each on the field in a 2-5-2 line-up, with one extra on the bench. The Blues won the toss in a similar format to most African elections and chose to kick with the wind. The direction of the breeze had no impact on the opening few minutes as the Reds bolted out of the blocks, winning centre (center) breaks and dominating the inside 50s. It appeared from the outside that the Reds’ forwards (Matt combo) may have gone into the game with poor hygiene, as the Blues defenders didn’t get too close to them and gave them plenty of space all quarter. Both forwards scored early and set the tone for a dominant Red team performance.    

The day got worse for the Blues as Mash painfully rolled his ankle late in the opening quarter. He went off the field and left a significant hole in the midfield rotation. The first term belonged to the Reds, who held a comfortable lead at the break. They were well led by Perham, Jesse, Brendon and Nick Maass in the middle.

The second quarter saw a much more even contest. The Blues engine room of Blake, Damo and Justin got the team going and fed some quality ball to Jordan and Mueller up forward. More players appeared on the sidelines and the Reds even had the luxury of playing “Rock Star” Talis at fullback after his fashionably late arrival. He was certainly a handy replacement for Scotty, who had decided to take the week off to see how many selfies he could take with a can of Karbach at the cricket in Jamaica (tough life). Robbie moved across to the Blues to even the numbers, but the Reds held strong and went into half time with a handy lead.

The third term started with a strong performance from the Reds. The Reds forward line of Matt P and Dan proved to be too strong and took some handy contested marks from an endless supply of passes from their quality midfield. Matt P and midfielder Nick M scored goals to stretch the lead early in the second half. This resulted in plenty of changes for the Blues. Beers moved into the ruck and took the contest to Perham, while Josh D ventured forward and won plenty of the ball with some very solid marks. A couple of late goals to the Blues, including a long bomb from Josh, reduced the margin to four goals at the last change and gave the Blues a small glimmer of hope.

The final quarter started in exciting fashion. Blake moved up forward and made an instant impact in a similar fashion to what Darren Jarman did in the 90’s. A couple of quick goals from Blake brought the margin back to a close contest and perhaps the possibility for the Blues to snatch an unlikely victory. Any hope of this was quickly erased when midfielders Nick M and Berky snuck forward and kicked truly. This prompted the fat lady to sing, or in this case, Beers to become severely agitated and the game was well and truly over.

Congratulations to Captain Matty L on leading the Reds to a solid 26 point victory and taking a 2-0 series lead. Thanks to DB and Trig for umpiring, Sonni for keeping score and providing plenty of water, and for all those that came to watch the game.

The final game in the series should be a quality contest. This will be held as a special Saturday morning edition to allow the dads to enjoy Father’s Day and to give the Reds the maximum time on the weekend to celebrate their metro series win.

Final Scores

Convicts                     11 – 7 –73

Blues                           7 – 5 – 47

Goals

Convicts: Nick (3), Jesse (2), Matt L (2), Matt P (2), Perham (1), Berky (1)

Blues: Blake (3), Jordan (2), Beers (1), Josh D (1)

Best

Convicts: Perham, Jesse, Nick Maass, Matt Pay

Blues: Blake, Josh D, Justin, Damo

 ~Written by Ricko (Blues Captain)